Associate professor, Dean
College of Nursing
Helen Glass Centre for Nursing
Room 297 - 89 Curry Place
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2
Canada
Email: kellie.thiessen@umanitoba.ca
Kellie Thiessen, RM, RN, PhD
Leadership style
As a leader, my goal is to take a restorative approach with the College of Nursing team and students. I'm interested in building healthy leadership and teams. I believe this will have transformative effects on student learning and engagement, and will enhance workplace vitality and team cohesion. We aspire to contribute to a culturally safe health system sustained by a workforce that is resilient and supported, where burnout is actively addressed and well-being is prioritized.
Teaching philosophy
My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that education should be transformative, inclusive, and responsive to the evolving needs of learners and the communities they serve. I strive to create learning environments that foster critical thinking, collaboration, and reflective practice, empowering students to become compassionate, competent, and socially accountable professionals.
Through mentorship, experiential learning, and evidence-informed pedagogy, I aim to cultivate curiosity, resilience, and a lifelong commitment to learning among students. Central to my approach is the recognition that teaching is a reciprocal process—one that values diverse perspectives and continuously adapts to support student growth and well-being.
Research achievements
Research summary
I have built a strong research team that includes experts across all health care disciplines and extends to key areas of my research focus, which is health policy, including health human resource planning, health economics and its impact on access to maternal child health services.
My primary research has focused on health service delivery interventions that will inform strategies and policies to improve delivery of maternity care health services in rural, remote and urban regions in Manitoba and beyond.
Research affiliations
Clinician scientist. ENRICH – Empowering next-generation researchers in perinatal and child health
Research scientist, Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Research affiliate, Manitoba Centre for Nursing and Health Research
Keywords
- health service delivery
- maternal and child health
- midwifery
- patient engaged research
Biography
Dr. Kellie Thiessen is a midwife clinician scientist who has an extensive clinical background in maternal/child health, she is a registered midwife and a registered nurse.
For the last ten years she has led the development and has been the director of the inaugural Bachelor of Midwifery program at the University of Manitoba. She is currently the dean of the College of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Manitoba. She is also a research scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). She has worked as a midwife in the United States, Brazilian, and Canadian health care systems and is committed to developing innovative collaborative models of midwifery practice that will increase choices for persons and their families, as well as provide comprehensive care.
Her primary research has focused on health service delivery interventions that will inform strategies and policies to improve delivery of maternity care health services in rural, remote, and urban regions in Canada and beyond. Specifically, patient-engaged research strategies inform her current work in developing innovative models of care to support persons with complex care needs during pregnancy and the postpartum period. These outcomes will demonstrate health priorities from a patient perspective and what skill mix is critical to have in caring for these persons and to improve both perinatal and system level outcomes in the Canadian context.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Applied Health Sciences, University of Manitoba (2014)
Master of Science in Nursing, Georgetown University (2002)
Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Eastern Mennonite University (1995)
Bachelor of Arts, Minor Spanish, Eastern Mennonite University (1995)
Awards
The A.C.N.M. Foundation, Inc. Lang Global Leadership Scholarship
Falconer Emerging Researcher Rh Nominated Award, University of Manitoba
Award of Excellence-Nursing Research, Association of Regulated Nurses of Manitoba (ARNM)
Merit Award for Research, Scholarly Work & Other Creative Activities, University of Manitoba
Contact us
College of Nursing
Helen Glass Centre for Nursing
89 Curry Place
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry Campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada
204-474-7452
204-474-7682